Techniques in Selecting and Organizing Information

Brainstorming – is a method of generating ideas and sharing knowledge to solve a particular commercial
or technical problem, in which participants are encouraged to think without interruption.

Four Strategies of Brainstorming:

1. Cubing – Cubing enables you to consider your topic from six different directions: just as a cube is
six – sided, your cubing brainstorming will result in six “sides” / approaches to the topic.

I. Describe it – It is like “What is it?”

II. Compare and contrast it – “What is it like or unlike”
III. Associate it – How does the topic connect to other issues you’ve dealt with before? It is like
“What does it remind you of?”
IV. Analyze it – What smaller parts make up the whole? Is it possible to break down the issue?
V. Apply it – How is it used? Who uses it?
VI. Argue for and against it – Explain your position for supporting or not supporting it.

2. Free writing - Freewriting is a brainstorming activity in which the writer writes anything they can
about a topic, in continuous prose, hoping that one idea will lead to another.

3. Listing – Listing means doing just what its name suggests -- listing possible topics and then sub
lists of things you could say about each topic.

4. Researching – This technique requires you to find all related concepts and new ideas of your
topic. You can go to the library or check out websites on the internet.

Graphic Organizers - is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts,
thoughts, or ideas and relationship between them.

Five types of graphic organizers:

1. Venn Diagram – This is used to compare and contrast ideas and events.
2. Network Tree – This is used to represent hierarchy, classification and branching of the given
topic.
3. Spider Map – It is also known as semantic map. This is used to investigate and enumerate
various aspects of a central idea.
4. Problem Solving Map – This is used to display the nature of the problem and how it can be
solved.
5. Timeline – This is used to show chronological order of events through a long bar labeled with
dates and specific events. Timelines can be a linear and comparative:

Linear Timeline – shows events that happened within a period of time

Comparative Timeline – shows two sets of events that happened within the same period of time.
Outline – An outline is a tool for organizing ideas not only as a pre-writing strategy but also as a post
reading activity. In doing an outline it is mostly composed of the main point or idea of the context you
need.

Two ways to write an outline according to structure:

Topic Outline – uses words and phrases as entries. A topic outline is used if ideas being discussed can be
arranged in a number of ways.

Sentence Outline – uses complete sentence for its entries. A sentence outline is used when the topic
being discussed is complicated and requires a lot of details.